Survivor – Tarzan and the Janes

The vote on Survivor last night was a mistake, for almost everyone involved.

We’re down to the wire on Survivor: One World – the finale airs this Sunday, and personally I’m pretty excited about it. Say what you want about this season, but right now there are five people left in the game and I think three of them have a really good chance of winning. It’s all going to come down to who they’re sitting next to.

This week, the women voted out Tarzan, the surprising last man standing. They all had their own reasons for doing so. He was playing them all to try and get to the final three, that’s for sure. He’s a man, and for five women who formed a strong female alliance on a season that began divided by gender, him winning would be the worst possible outcome. He’s a man, and maybe he’d get votes from all the other men who sit bitterly on the jury.

But the other name being floated around last night was Chelsea, and she’s a legitimate threat. She didn’t win Immunity last night, but she easily could. So for Kim, breaking that alliance and voting out her pal would have been a good move.

And for everyone else, why aren’t they considering taking out Kim? Chelsea is too trusting – she still thinks and wants it to be her, Kim and Sabrina in the end. Why does she think she can beat Kim? I’m not saying she absolutely can’t, but it would be a tough match with those three sitting together at final tribal council. Of course, I do think that Kim is savvy enough that had her name been seriously thrown around, she would have known that and would have played her idol. Kim has played a really good social game, and I think she’s close enough with all the players that it would be hard to blindside her.

Kim’s best strategy is the one that Tarzan laid out for her, taking Alicia and Christina with her to the finals. Of course, that wasn’t Tarzan’s actual plan, his idea was to get Kim to keep him until fourth, where he’d then convince Alicia and Christina that they should take him to the finals over Kim. This was a decent plan, but it had two major flaws. One, that Alicia and Christina are morons. Two, that of those four players Kim is hands down the strongest physically and mentally and would have a really good chance of winning her way into the final three.

At this point, with her immunity idol and her prowess in challenges, Kim is a shoe-in for final four and has a fantastic shot at being in the final three and winning. But you never know what could happen in that two-hour finale…

Dizzying

The morning of the reward challenge, Chelsea had a conversation with Christina about voting out Tarzan. Since Chelsea is playing a very bizarre game in which the most deserving people, aka her friends, go to the end, she thought that was the best move and wanted to get Christina and Alicia on board. To help seal the bond, Chelsea told Christina that if she won the reward she would take her. But when Christina immediately went and repeated the conversation to Tarzan, Alicia and Kim, Chelsea was none too pleased. Really, Christina? Why are you such a moron in this game? It’s been obvious for a long time that Chelsea and Kim are BFFs, so obviously Kim was going to tell Chelsea that her private conversation with Christina had become public knowledge.

Of course, Chelsea promising a reward to someone meant she was bound to nab the victory. The Reward Challenge was to spin three discs until they came free, and then use them to solve a code. Chelsea won, and made one smart decision to bring Sabrina on the reward. OK, great – everyone knows Sabrina hasn’t gone on a lot of reward. But then Chelsea selected Kim to join them – how will handing Kim her third straight reward endear Chelsea to anyone? (For the record, Kim has won or been taken on the last three rewards and before that she made out very well at the Survivor auction – homegirl is doing well.)

Chelsea still should have taken Christina on the reward, or at the very least Tarzan. Why leave the three people who are not in your alliance alone together to stew and plot? Chelsea is not playing a strategic game, and she never has been. And that’s why I’ll be mad if she wins on Sunday night instead of Kim.

Chelsea, Sabrina and Kim got to enjoy a relaxing overnight yacht ride complete with a bed, showers, food and cocktails. And as they were sitting there relaxing, Kim said the stupidest thing she’s said in this whole game – that maybe these were the girls she wanted to take to the end after all. No Kim, no they’re not. Personally, I think that was a fleeting thought that Kim mused and producers chose to air it in order to throw us off the scent. No way Kim is stupid enough to take real competition to the end.

Back and Forth

Back at camp, Alicia was furious that Kim got to go on yet another reward challenge. But thankfully for those of us who have Kim in office pools, Alicia was mad at Chelsea for making an inconsiderate decision and not at Kim for being so well-liked. Seriously? When are these people going to wake up and smell the fact that everyone likes Kim so much that they’re willing to take her anywhere? They will also want to hand her a million dollars!

The thing is, though, keeping Tarzan around and taking out Chelsea means having to endure Tarzan some more. And at this point in the game, people are tired and hungry and lonely and cranky. So things like the way Tarzan snapped at Alicia about the coconut? Those are things that can matter, and it was the first of several little things Tarzan did in this episode that helped lead to his demise. Strike number one.

Until the girls got back from their reward, Alicia was planning to get Kim on board with the idea of joining her, Tarzan and Christina in voting Chelsea out. But as Kim and Alicia chatted, they realized that Tarzan had been telling them different stories. Alicia couldn’t believe that Tarzan was trying to play them, even though he is quite clearly one of the players in a game they are all playing. “I am the queen of the social game!” she said. Oh no, honey. You’re not. “I’m the most powerful player,” she said. Oh no, honey, you’re not. And she continued “And I’m gonna remain the most powerful player.”

Let’s say it all together! Oh no, honey, you won’t.

And with that conversation, the target shifted from Chelsea to Tarzan. The only person not completely convinced? Chelsea’s BFF Kim.

Bag of Bones

Time for the Immunity Challenge! This was one of my favorites – with one hand tied behind their backs, the players had to use hooks to retrieve bags of puzzle pieces and assemble them into a fish skeleton.

It was a close race, coming down to good vs. evil – Kim and Alicia. Unfortunately, Alicia came out on top, by a matter of seconds, giving her self-esteem a very unneeded boost.

Back at camp, Tarzan scored strike number two by calling Alicia a bitch for beating him in the challenge. Apparently since it wasn’t even physical, he should have won. Um, I hate to break it to you Tarzan, but there’s been a number of non-physical challenges you haven’t won.

Kim did two things before leaving for Tribal Council – one was smart, the other wasn’t. The smart thing: Kim told the camera essentially that she’d like to vote out Chelsea, but wouldn’t push it with the other women if they wanted to go for Tarzan instead. I think this one of the ways Kim has played a strong game this season. She’s clearly the person pulling the strings, but she has a good sense of when to take a step back and agree with the majority. It helps her come across as less puppet-master-like to them, but she never relinquishes too much power.

But then there was the stupid thing. Kim told Chelsea that she might be in danger, but then all but flat-out refused to share her Immunity Idol. She never should have told Chelsea that she might be in jeopardy, because she had to know Chelsea would mention the Idol and giving Chelsea the Idol would be, as Kim pointed out, idiotic. So what did that conversation with Chelsea accomplish? Nothing.

Captain Bloody Underpants

Before leaving for Tribal Council, Tarzan completed strike number three by deciding it would be funny to wear Kat’s old, dirty, blood-stained bikini bottoms around his head. Ew! Disgusting. (That said, I had to laugh at the fact that Kat cried when this was mentioned during Tribal Council. Did she want that bathing suit back?)

At Tribal Council, Tarzan also showed that he likely won’t be getting any of the men’s votes by talking about how he helped the girls get rid of all the boys, reminding everyone that no one will give a millionaire a million dollar prize, and then chastising the men for incorrectly thinking that they deserved to stick around longer than they did. Frankly, it was a great performance to try and get to the final three as Guy Who Won’t Get A Single Vote, but by then it was too late. The girls had decided on Tarzan, and he was voted out.

I’m left wondering who Kim would have voted out if she’d had her druthers. I have a feeling that she would have eliminated Chelsea this week if she’d had Christina and Alicia more on board with the idea, but I could be wrong. That said, she’s silly if she doesn’t take out Chelsea and Sabrina next and she better pray that Chelsea doesn’t win the last two Immunity Challenges.

Looking back at how I ranked the players for my Survivor pool, I think I did pretty well this season. I had Bill at #1, but no one could have predicted Colton’s irrational hatred for the poor. But I had Chelsea, Kim and Sabrina all in my top five, and that’s pretty damn good. I do truly hope that Kim wins, both because winning $180 would cover an upcoming winery tour I’m planning, and because I think she deserves it. Chelsea hasn’t played nearly as strategically, Sabrina isn’t great in challenges and hasn’t been as strategic as Kim, Christina is a waste of space in the game and Alicia is just a horrible human being.

What do you guys think? Predictions? Thoughts?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Couchtime/~3/lAKv0YK68TE/